Some advice from the experts? Please

Tonite my son has soccer practice. I nee some help in setting up my camera for some good shots. Every time I've tried shooting him at soccer the results are hit and miss. I'll be using my D200 and Tamron 70-200mm. Can anyone please give me some advice. Should I use Matrix? Should I shoot AF-C with AF/ON? Should I use Center Weighted metering? PLEASE any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanx in advance.

Joe for one it would help to see what you have been coming home with but these settings do depend on when the practice is but here are some settings to work with. I'd recommend, Manual mode, at least 1/500th, f2.8-3.2, ISO dependant on exposure set it to where your exposures are good, autoISO might work as well. Centerweighted metering, AF-C, single point to whatever the lowest dynamic AF is (can't remeber been shooting the D300 too much).

Joe for one it would help to see what you have been coming home with but these settings do depend on when the practice is but here are some settings to work with. I'd recommend, Manual mode, at least 1/500th, f2.8-3.2, ISO dependant on exposure set it to where your exposures are good, autoISO might work as well. Centerweighted metering, AF-C, single point to whatever the lowest dynamic AF is (can't remeber been shooting the D300 too much).

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Why the lowest dynamic AF? I thought the focal point should be on the face. Can you explain this to me a lil more. I'm not really sure what you mean. Are we talking about the same thing or am I thinking of something different?
Thanx

AF-C + matrix or cntr (depending on if you have lots of shadows or uniform color)

as well as this i used Group dynamic for my AF points and used the center group

For a "mode" i would go with A mode... and here's why .... right now while you are still trying to dial things down and get a good feel for your camera i would just go ISO 100 (or whatever your camera goes down to) Dial in F/3.2 or 4.0 and point your camera at the kids on the field ..... half press your shutter button and see what sort of shutter speeds the camera tells you that you need ........ if it says anything below 1/800th of a second bump your iso up a litte and then re-evaluate the numbers.....

This should put you at a fairly good start joe ... Also if you like there are a few things on my blog about shooting soccer and other field sports but as always If you have any more questions or need some more help shoot me an e-mail and i'll do whatever i can for ya.

AF-C + matrix or cntr (depending on if you have lots of shadows or uniform color)

as well as this i used Group dynamic for my AF points and used the center group

For a "mode" i would go with A mode... and here's why .... right now while you are still trying to dial things down and get a good feel for your camera i would just go ISO 100 (or whatever your camera goes down to) Dial in F/3.2 or 4.0 and point your camera at the kids on the field ..... half press your shutter button and see what sort of shutter speeds the camera tells you that you need ........ if it says anything below 1/800th of a second bump your iso up a litte and then re-evaluate the numbers.....

This should put you at a fairly good start joe ... Also if you like there are a few things on my blog about shooting soccer and other field sports but as always If you have any more questions or need some more help shoot me an e-mail and i'll do whatever i can for ya.

Joe,
As usual, in sports shooting, it's all about speed and light. Shooting soccer late in the evening can be challenging. With the D200, you're probably going to get too much noise if you let your ISO get over 800. So the challenge is how to keep your shutter speed up around 500 or more(as another poster mentioned). Depending on the age group you're shooting, you may need even more shutter speed than that just to stop motion blur on the ball, much less on the athletes. Personally, I like to stay OVER 500. Try Apeture Priority first. The easiest thing would be to just shoot it wide open at 2.8, set your ISO as low as you can, and see let the D200 set your shutter speed. Watch your histogram and Keep adjusting ISO upward as necessary. Some will shoot with Shutter Priority, and let the aperture fluctuate and others will make all manual adjustments. But it all boils down to speed and light so use whatever method you're comfortable with to get the fastest speed with the most light. Use Continuous focus and set the frame speed to High. Metering will depend on the time of day, color of jerseys, where the sun is, etc. etc. Probably start with matrix, and switch to center weighted if you don't like matrix results. Hope this helps.

Joe,
As usual, in sports shooting, it's all about speed and light. Shooting soccer late in the evening can be challenging. With the D200, you're probably going to get too much noise if you let your ISO get over 800. So the challenge is how to keep your shutter speed up around 500 or more(as another poster mentioned). Depending on the age group you're shooting, you may need even more shutter speed than that just to stop motion blur on the ball, much less on the athletes. Personally, I like to stay OVER 500. Try Apeture Priority first. The easiest thing would be to just shoot it wide open at 2.8, set your ISO as low as you can, and see let the D200 set your shutter speed. Watch your histogram and Keep adjusting ISO upward as necessary. Some will shoot with Shutter Priority, and let the aperture fluctuate and others will make all manual adjustments. But it all boils down to speed and light so use whatever method you're comfortable with to get the fastest speed with the most light. Use Continuous focus and set the frame speed to High. Metering will depend on the time of day, color of jerseys, where the sun is, etc. etc. Probably start with matrix, and switch to center weighted if you don't like matrix results. Hope this helps.

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Thanx for the tips Keith. I'm getting some great advice here. The practice starts at 6PM. The sun is still high enough in the sky, luckily. My son and his teammates are 4-5 year olds. So they NEVER stand still for long!!

Why the lowest dynamic AF? I thought the focal point should be on the face. Can you explain this to me a lil more. I'm not really sure what you mean. Are we talking about the same thing or am I thinking of something different?
Thanx

Click to expand...

Joe
Meant like 9pt or something, not lowest pt on the viewfinder, but least amount of dynamic pts. Wasn't fully awake when I posted so it didn't come out right.

Joe, at that time of day, you'll possibly be dealing with shadows on the field. With the D200, you may have to make a choice - either shoot in the sun or the shadows. I'm not sure that auto ISO would adjust quick enough for that. Maybe some D200 shooters will chime in. But if your sunny pictures are looking better than your shady picts, probably an ISO issue. I think that for this time of year, that low, setting sun makes for a great day on the soccer field as long as you're not shooting into it. One more thing, especially for the younger kids...get down on their level even if you have to sit down and shoot. You'll get more faces in focus with less shadows as well. Good luck.

I feel I'm the only one who using the "Wide" Setting on my D200. It really helps with tracking. As for AF Tracking (CSM A5) I use Norm. Short is well too short, Long doesn't seem to cut it. I only use single point and the center AF point.

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